Hospitals and the aging nurse

Published

Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Does anyone work at a hospital which is trying to make the physical work any easier for nurses? The profession is aging, with all that implies in terms of slowing down, aching feet and legs and backs, etc., but it does not seem as though hospitals are doing anything at all to help us keep going. Example: wasting narcotics now means two nurses have to run down to the Pyxis at the same time, we can't have carpets anymore because of infection control (but why can't we have them in the nurses' station), computers are in the patients' rooms in hopes nurses will stand there and do their charting, and rooms are private and enormously big, making us do twice the walking to take care of our patients. I know several very good nurses who may have to retire early just because it's harder and harder to keep up with all the walking and standing, which gets more demanding with each technological, safety and customer-service "improvement". Is there anyone out there who has come up with ways to make it physically easier?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in SICU.

Nope, not where I am.

I am actually on "light duty" (no patient care - just paperwork) due to an injury sustained on the job. Hospitals seem to only improve the things that increase their revenue... and I can just about guarantee that anything having to do with nurses does NOT do that!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OB, Med-Surg.

I am not aging....well not too much yet, but I hope there is something for nurses to do with their degrees when they are older and in pain. I have a lot of back issues right now....spina bifida occulta and someitmes I am miserable. I hope someone out there has some ideas too.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My suggestion is that anyone doing floor nursing have a plan to move into something less strenuous as time goes on. In the current environment, floor nursing isn't going to change, although many hospitals are starting to make noises about "keeping the wisdom of the older nurse" or some such nonsense.

You can move into more desk jobs, occupational health, get an MSN and teach, etc. But I wouldn't hold my breath expecting hospitals to make things better.

Oldiebutgoodie

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Behavioral Health, Show Biz.

i do all i can

while i can.

when my body says no

i don't do any mo'.

new technology

don't fit my biology.

can't race up-and-down

i'm a nurse

not a clown...

or haven't you noticed?

showbizrn: nurse-on-the-run...i don't mean running scared either.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Thank you to everyone for their input! I actually went prn on the floor and now do a less strenous part of nursing for my full-time job. But I would do more hospital nursing if it weren't so hard on the old body. I think hospitals are going to have to wake up to the fact that the majority of us, especially the ones who are committed to the facility, aren't in our 20s any longer, and there's just so much a person can take physically when you're in your 50s or older (which will soon be an even larger chunk of the profession). I used to think nothing of doing two 12s back to back (we all know they're more like 13s or 14s) but I just can't do it any more. I feel so bad for the people I've worked with for years, knowing how much pain they're in.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

At my hospital, older nurses get tired, get injured, or just die off....and that's how they handle the "aging" part of nursing!

Sad, but the facts seem to say that there's no easy way to deal with bedside nursing in a typical hospital, unless you happen to work in a type of unit that might allow you to have less 'hands-on', I guess. I'm in med-surg, and when the day comes that I can't pull up a patient, push them over, bend to the floor to read a pleurovac or foley, move a CPM, or stretch to the various pumps, etc, I imagine I'm outta the job.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Thank you to everyone for their input! I actually went prn on the floor and now do a less strenous part of nursing for my full-time job. But I would do more hospital nursing if it weren't so hard on the old body. I think hospitals are going to have to wake up to the fact that the majority of us, especially the ones who are committed to the facility, aren't in our 20s any longer, and there's just so much a person can take physically when you're in your 50s or older (which will soon be an even larger chunk of the profession). I used to think nothing of doing two 12s back to back (we all know they're more like 13s or 14s) but I just can't do it any more. I feel so bad for the people I've worked with for years, knowing how much pain they're in.

Overworking older nurses is a hospitals way of getting rid of them. Wait intil they get injured, deny the workmans comp claim, and they will leave because they cannot do the job. Then the hospital can hire a 20 something newby for half the salary.

Sorry to sound so jaded. But reality is, hospitals don't care if older nurses can't do the work anymore. When we all quit because we are old and feeble, it will be a "firesale" for hospitals to contact and pressure law makers to open the flood gates to bring in foreign nurse, and also to continue to de skill and de professionalize our professional practice.

There will be HS dropouts working in ICU and the ER. Wait and see.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If it makes anybody feel any better, it's not just nursing. Most corporations see the 50+ folks as a detriment to get rid of. I was in the computer industry, and the 40+ folks were getting shown the door!

Unfortunately, we have to have the mindset to be prepared, have plan B, save money, etc., etc. No place of employment really values the workers. It's a sad fact of life.

Oldiebutgoodie

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Overworking older nurses is a hospitals way of getting rid of them. Wait intil they get injured, deny the workmans comp claim, and they will leave because they cannot do the job. Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Been there, done that, got the h-e-doublehockeysticks out of there while I still had my sanity and some physical abilities left. Hospitals are not kind to older nurses, nor will they be until their bottom lines begin to be affected. :angryfire

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ortho, pedi.

@ 2 yrs ago, our hospital started addressing the "aging" of our nurses, and discussed body mechanics and came up with some suggestions. However, the only result, was that one of our 3 med carts was equipped with a bendable Light (Actually a grill light) When the bulb burned out, it was never replaced, and last I saw, the light remained .. it's little head hung over in despair.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

from dammadRN33.....I have been working as an RN for a long time...been in management, bedside, love bedside. Two yrs afo i was out with breast cancer, all the chemoa and radiation.....now out with disability from lymphedema..this is improving. will i ever be able to return to work, at this point i have witnessed my previous employer make life miserable for older nurses....pushing into them quiting their jobs....i was told the administration of the hospital feels they can train a nurse in two yrs., everything a nurse of 30yrs. obtained. Not so sure i want to work for such a place....there has to be something.......our brains are not dead, body may be slower and creak when i walk, no i cant run anymore, but my patients never went without the best care i could give them........here is to nursings future....i hope we, older nurses, have set a good example.....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion